Information processing device and method of processing information

ABSTRACT

An information processing device includes an identifying unit, a generation unit, and a contour extraction unit. The identifying unit identifies a first object expressed by pixel data and a second object expressed by vector data from target image data including drawing information for each object. The generation unit performs rasterization based on first drawing information indicating the drawing information of the first object and second drawing information indicating the drawing information of the second object to generate combined image data, into which the first object and the second object are combined. The contour extraction unit extracts a contour from the combined image data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to and incorporates by referencethe entire contents of Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-231492 filedin Japan on Nov. 7, 2013.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information processing device and amethod of processing information.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, technologies of performing printing with a specialcolor ink such as a clear toner have been increasing. In the printingwith a special color ink, an object (hereinafter, a special colorobject) to be printed with the special color ink is arranged on anexisting object on an original copy. This enables the printing with thespecial color ink.

To create the special color object, it is necessary to accuratelyextract a contour from a target object on the original copy.Conventionally, various technologies are known as a method of extractinga desired area from a color image or a continuous tone image (image).

For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 8-077336discloses a configuration of instructing and inputting an outer framearea to include a contour portion in an original image, obtainingdifferences between pixels of the original image in the outer frame areaand adjacent pixels, in a color space, and linking pixels that indicatemaximum differences to form a contour line, in order to reduce an inputload of an operator when performing image clipping and to enable fastand accurate extraction of a target area.

However, conventionally, there is no mechanism to extract a contour froman image in which an object expressed by pixel data and an objectexpressed by vector data are mixed.

Therefore, there is a need for an information processing device and amethod of processing information capable of extracting a contour from animage in which an object expressed by pixel data and an object expressedby vector data are mixed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to at least partially solve theproblems in the conventional technology.

The present invention provides an information processing device thatincludes an identifying unit configured to identify a first objectexpressed by pixel data and a second object expressed by vector datafrom target image data including drawing information for each object; ageneration unit configured to perform rasterization based on firstdrawing information indicating the drawing information of the firstobject and second drawing information indicating the drawing informationof the second object to generate combined image data, into which thefirst object and the second object are combined; and a contourextraction unit configured to extract a contour from the combined imagedata.

The present invention also provides an image processing device thatincludes an identifying unit configured to identify a first objectexpressed by pixel data and a second object expressed by vector datafrom target image data including drawing information for each object; ageneration unit configured to perform rasterization based on firstdrawing information indicating the drawing information of the firstobject to generate contour extraction image data; and a contourextraction unit configured to extract a contour from the contourextraction image data.

The above and other objects, features, advantages and technical andindustrial significance of this invention will be better understood byreading the following detailed description of presently preferredembodiments of the invention, when considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of animage forming system;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of color plane image data;

FIG. 3 is a diagram exemplarily illustrating types of gloss effects;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating gloss control plane image data as animage;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functionalconfiguration of a host device of a first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed by animage processing application;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of colorplane image data;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configurationof the host device;

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a state in which a contourobject is generated by a method of the first embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration oforiginal copy data;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a procedure to generatea contour object by the host device of the first embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the hostdevice of the first embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functionalconfiguration of a host device of a second embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a state in which a contourobject is generated by a method of the second embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a procedure to generatea combined contour object by the host device of the second embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the hostdevice of the second embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the hostdevice of the second embodiment; and

FIG. 18 is a diagram for describing a complementary function of when aprocessing range is determined.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments of an information processing device and amethod of processing information according to the present invention willbe described in detail with reference to the appended drawings.

First Embodiment

First, a configuration of an image forming system of the presentembodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, an image forming system 1 of the presentembodiment includes a host device 10, a printer control device (digitalfront end) (hereinafter, referred to as DFE) 30, an interface controller(mechanism I/F controller) (hereinafter, may be referred to as MIC) 40,and a printing device 60. The host device 10, the DFE 30, the MIC 40,and the printing device 60 are mutually connected through a wired orwireless communication line in a data-transferable manner.

The DFE 30 performs communication with the printing device 60 throughthe MIC 40, and controls formation of an image in the printing device60. Further, the host device 10 such as a personal computer (PC) isconnected to the DFE 30. The DFE 30 receives image data from the hostdevice 10. The DFE 30 then generates, using the image data, image datafor the printing device 60 to form a toner image according to CMYKtoners and a clear toner. Further, the DFE 30 transmits the generatedimage data to the printing device 60 through the MIC 40.

In the example of FIG. 1, the printing device 60 is configured from aprinter device 50 and a post-processing device 75. In the printer device50, the CMYK toners and the clear toner are at least mounted, and animage formation unit including a photoconductor, a charging device, adeveloping device, and a photoconductor cleaner, and an exposure deviceare mounted for each toner. The printer device 50 emits a light beamfrom the exposure device to form a toner image on the photoconductoraccording to the respective toners, and transfers the toner image on arecording medium such as a recording paper, according to the image datatransmitted from the DFE 30 through the MIC 40. The transferred tonerimage is applied heat and pressure at a temperature within apredetermined range (normal temperature) in a fixing device (notillustrated) and fixed on the recording medium. Accordingly, an image isformed on the recording medium.

Here, the clear toner is a transparent (colorless) toner not including acolor material. Note that transparent (colorless) indicates that thetransmittance is 70% or more.

In the example of FIG. 1, the post-processing device 75 is configuredfrom a glosser 70 connected to the printer device 50, a normal fixingpost-processing device 80 connected to the glosser 70, and alow-temperature fixing post-processing device 90 connected to the normalfixing post-processing device 80. However, the post-processing device 75is not limited thereto, and can employ various known configurations. ONand OFF of the glosser 70 are controlled by the DFE 30, and when theglosser 70 is turned ON, the glosser 70 re-fixes the image formed on therecording medium by the printer device 50. Accordingly, a total adhesionamount of toners of pixels to which a predetermined amount or more ofthe toners adheres becomes uniformly compressed in the entire imageformed on the recording medium.

The clear toner and the fixing device for fixing the clear toner aremounted on the normal fixing post-processing device 80, and clear tonerplane image data (image data for forming a toner image according to theclear toner) generated by the DFE 30 is input to the normal fixingpost-processing device 80. The normal fixing post-processing device 80superimposes the toner image by the clear toner on the image pressurizedby the glosser 70 and formed on the recording medium, using the inputclear toner plane image data. The toner image formed on the recordingmedium is then applied heat and pressure at a normal temperature in thefixing device and fixed on the recording medium.

The clear toner and the fixing device for fixing the clear toner aremounted on the low-temperature fixing post-processing device 90, andclear toner plane image data generated by the DFE 30 is input to thelow-temperature fixing post-processing device 90. The low-temperaturefixing post-processing device 90 superimposes the toner image by theclear toner on the image pressurized by the glosser 70 and the normalfixing post-processing device 80 and formed on the recording medium,using the input clear toner plane image data. The toner image formed onthe recording medium is then applied heat and pressure at a lowertemperature (low temperature) than the normal temperature in the fixingdevice and fixed on the recording medium.

Here, the image data output from the host device 10 to the DFE 30 willbe described.

The host device 10 generates original copy data in which special colorplane information (special color plane image data described below) isadded to color plane image data according to specification of the user.The special color plane is image data for causing special toners or inkssuch as white, gold, and silver to adhere, in addition to basic colorssuch as CMYK, and is data for printers in which such special toners orinks are mounted. As the special color plane, R may be added to the CMYKbasic colors or Y may be added to RGB basic colors, in order to improvecolor reproducibility. Typically, the clear toner has been treated asone of the special colors. In the image forming system 1 of the presentembodiment, a transparent developer that is a clear toner as a specialcolor is used in addition to color developers that are toners of theCMYK basic colors. The image forming system 1 of the present embodimentexecutes a plurality of different types of transparent processing (maysometimes be referred to as clear processing) by using the clear toner.As the clear processing, there are processing of forming a gloss effect(may sometimes be referred to as surface effect) that is visual ortactile effect provided to a paper and processing of forming atransparent image, using the clear toner. As the clear processing,various known technologies can be used.

The color plane image data is image data that defines an image to beformed with a color developer of a color toner. Specifically, the colorplane image data is image data that defines color density values of theRGB, CMYK, or the like, for each drawing area. FIG. 2 is an explanatorydiagram illustrating an example of the color plane image data. In FIG.2, the density value corresponding to a color specified by the user isprovided for each drawing area (object) such as “A”, “B”, or “C”. Thedensity value of each drawing area is represented by a density value of0 to 100%, for example (may be represented by “0” to “255”, or thelike).

The special color plane image data is data that defines a transparentarea to be realized using the clear toner. The special color plane imagedata includes gloss control plane image data and clear plane image data.These gloss control plane image data and the clear plane image data aregenerated based on specification of the user. The gloss control planeimage data is image data that defines a gloss effect to be provided to apaper. Specifically, the gloss control plane image data is image datathat identifies an area to which the gloss effect is provided and a typeof the gloss effect, in order to perform adhesion control of the cleartoner according to the gloss effect that is visual or tactile effect tobe provided to a paper. The clear plane image data is image data thatidentifies a transparent image of a water mark, texture, or the likeother than the above-described gloss effects. Note that, hereinafter, acase of using only the gloss control plane image data as the specialcolor plane image data will be described as an example.

In the gloss control plane image data, the density value of a gloss area(drawing area) that indicates an area to which the clear toner isprovided is represented by the density value of 0 to 100% (may berepresented by “0” to “255”, or the like), similarly to the color planeimage data of the RGB, CMYK, or the like, and the type of the glosseffect is associated with the density value.

Here, as the types of the gloss effects, there are roughly one relatedto presence or absence of gloss, surface protection, a watermark withembedded information, and texture. As for the gloss effect related tothe presence or absence of gloss, there are roughly four types, asexemplarily illustrated in FIG. 3, including specular gloss (premiumgross (PG)), solid gloss (gross (G)), halftone-dot matt (matt (M)), andmatting (premium matt (PM)) in descending order of the degree of gloss(glossiness). Hereinafter, the specular gloss may be referred to as“PG”, the solid gloss may be referred to as “G”, the halftone-dot mattmay be referred to as “M”, and the matting may be referred to as “PM”.

The specular gloss and the solid gloss have a high degree of providinggloss. In contrast, the halftone-dot matt and the matting suppressgloss, and especially, the matting realizes glossiness lower than thatof a normal paper. In the drawing, the specular gloss indicatesglossiness Gs of 80 or more, the solid gloss indicates solid glossinessmade by a primary color or a secondary color, the halftone-dot mattindicates glossiness of a primary color and halftone-dot of 30%, and thematting indicates glossiness of 10 or less. Further, a deviation of theglossiness is represented by £Gs, and is 10 or less.

For the respective types of the gloss effects, a high density value isassociated with the gloss effect having a high degree of providinggloss, and a low density value is associated with the gloss effect thatsuppresses gloss. The gloss effect of the watermark, texture, or thelike is associated with an intermediate density value. As the watermark,a character, a background pattern, or the like is used. The textureexpresses a character or a pattern, and can provide a tactile effect, inaddition to a visual effect. For example, a stained glass pattern can berealized by the clear toner. The specular gloss or the solid gloss isused as a substitute for the surface protection.

Note that to which object in the color plane image data the gloss effectis provided, and which type of the gloss effect is provided to theobject are determined according to specification of the user. The hostdevice 10 sets the density value corresponding to the gloss effectspecified by the user to each drawing area that serves as a target towhich the gloss effect is provided, thereby to generate gloss controlplane image data in a vector format.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the glosscontrol plane image data. The example of the gloss control plane imagedata of FIG. 4 illustrates that the gloss effect “PG (specular gloss)”is provided to a drawing areas “ABC”, the gloss effect “G (solid gloss)”is provided to a drawing area “(rectangular figure)”, and the glosseffect “M (halftone-dot matt) is provided to a drawing area “(circularfigure)”, according to specification of the user.

The color plane image data and the gloss control plane image data aregenerated in a portable document format (PDF) in page units, and thesecolor plane image data and the gloss control plane image data areintegrated and the original copy data is generated. The generatedoriginal copy data is then transmitted to the DFE 30. Note that the dataformat of each plane image data is not limited to the PDF, and anarbitrary format can be used.

Although detailed content will be described below, in the presentembodiment, when the user specifies an object to which the user wishesto provide the gloss effect, the user performs an operation forspecifying a processing range from which a contour is extracted, of animage represented by the color plane image data (in this example,corresponding to “target image data” in Claims). The host device 10determines the processing range according to the operation of the user.Then, when the determined processing range includes an object expressedby pixel data (the object may be referred to as “image object” in thedescription below) and an object expressed by vector data (the objectmay be referred to as “graphic object” in the description below), thehost device 10 rasterizes the mixed image and graphic as one image, andextracts a contour from the image (combined image data) obtained throughthe rasterization. The host device 10 then determines a drawing areasurrounded by the extracted contour as the object to which the glosseffect is provided.

In the host device 10 of the present embodiment, an application (may bereferred to as “object specifying application” in the description below)used for specifying an object to which the user wishes to provide thegloss effect is mounted. Hereinafter, functions included in the hostdevice 10 will be described, mainly focusing on the function related tothe object specifying application. Note that, in this example, the hostdevice 10 can be considered corresponding to “information processingdevice” in Claims.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functionalconfiguration of the host device 10. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the hostdevice 10 includes an operation unit 101, a data input unit 102, anoperation control unit 103, a contour extraction control unit 104, adisplay unit 109, and a data recording unit 110.

The operation unit 101 is an input device used by the user for inputtingvarious instructions and various types of setting, and can be configuredfrom a keyboard, a mouse, or the like, for example. Hereinafter, a casein which the operation unit 101 is configured from a mouse will bedescribed as an example.

The data input unit 102 reads electronic data (for example, color planeimage data stored in a memory (not illustrated)) specified according toan operation of the operation unit 101 from a memory (not illustrated),and records the read electronic data in the data recording unit 110.Further, the data input unit 102 performs control of converting the readelectronic data into preview display data in a data format that can betreated in the display unit 109, and displaying the converted data inthe display unit 109. In this example, the data input unit 102 displaysa screen exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 6 in the display unit 109. FIG.6 illustrates an example of a screen displayed when a plug-in isincorporated in Illustrator sold by Adobe Systems® Incorporated. Thescreen illustrated in FIG. 6 displays an image (may be referred to as“target image” in the description below) represented by the color planeimage data specified by the user through the operation unit 101.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of thecolor plane image data stored in the data recording unit 110 aselectronic data (an electronic image file). The color plane image dataincludes drawing information of each object included in the same page.For example, the drawing information includes information indicating aposition of a drawing area, a color space, and density. In the exampleof FIG. 7, an object 1 is an image object that indicates an objectexpressed by pixel data, and includes information indicating a drawingposition and an RGB color space as the drawing information. An object 2is also an image object, and includes information indicating a drawingposition and an RGB color space as the drawing information. Further, anobject 3 is a graphic object that indicates an object expressed byvector data, and includes information indicating a position where astraight line is drawn, a line width, a CMYK color space, and density ofeach pixel as the drawing information.

Referring back to FIG. 5, description will be continued. The operationcontrol unit 103 converts an operation received from the operation unit101 into available event information, and notifies the contourextraction control unit 104 of the converted event information. In thisexample, the event information can be considered as information thatindicates the operation of the user.

Further, the operation control unit 103 can also perform control ofdisplaying various images in the display unit 109 according to a useroperation received from the operation unit 101. For example, in FIG. 6,when the user presses a button image (not illustrated) for selecting theobject specifying application through the operation unit 101, theoperation control unit 103 performs control of displaying a UI imagerelated to the object specifying application in the display unit 109.When the button image for selecting the object specifying application ispressed, the object specifying application is executed (started), andthe user performs an operation input through the operation unit 101,thereby to specify an object to which the user wishes to provide thegloss effect. Then, when the user performs an operation to specify thetype of the gloss effect that the user wishes to provide, with respectto the specified object, the host device 10 determines the type of thegloss effect to be provided to the object according to the specificationof the user, and generates the gloss control plane data.

Referring back to FIG. 5, description will be continued. The contourextraction control unit 104 includes a processing range determinationunit 105, a contour extraction data generation unit 106, and a contourextraction unit 108. Further, the contour extraction control unit 104has a function to receive the event information from the operationcontrol unit 103.

When the event information notified from the operation control unit 103indicates a user operation that specifies a processing range of contourextraction processing, the processing range determination unit 105determines the processing range according to the user operation, recordsinformation indicating the determined processing range in the datarecording unit 110, and then performs control of displaying theinformation in the display unit 109.

When the event information notified from the operation control unit 103indicates a user operation that requests the contour extractionprocessing, the contour extraction data generation unit 106 firstacquires the information indicating the processing range from the datarecording unit 110. Next, the contour extraction data generation unit106 acquires the electronic image file (for example, the color planeimage data having the configuration exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 7)of the target image from the data recording unit 110, and identifies theimage object (corresponding to “first object” in Claims) and the graphicobject (corresponding to “second object” in Claims) in the processingrange from the acquired electronic image file. In this example, thecontour extraction data generation unit 106 can be considered to have afunction of an “identifying unit” in Claims.

Next, the contour extraction data generation unit 106 performsrasterization based on first drawing information indicating the drawinginformation of the identified image object and second drawinginformation indicating the drawing information of the identified graphicobject to generate combined image data, into which the image object andthe graphic object are combined, and records the generated combinedimage data in the data recording unit 110. In this example, the contourextraction data generation unit 106 can be considered to have a functionof a “generation unit” in Claims.

Note that, in this example, the contour extraction data generation unit106 has the function of the “identifying unit” in Claims and thefunction of the “generation unit” in Claims. However, the configurationis not limited to the example. For example, a configuration in which thefunction of the “identifying unit” in Claims and the “generation unit”in Claims are separately provided may be employed. When generation ofthe combined image data has been completed, the contour extraction datageneration unit 106 requests the contour extraction unit 108 to performthe contour extraction processing.

The contour extraction unit 108 that has received the request of thecontour extraction processing acquires the combined image data from thedata recording unit 110, and extracts a contour from the acquiredcombined image data. As processing for extracting the contour, variousknown technologies can be used. Then, the contour extraction unit 108generates and displays a graphic object (may be referred to as “contourobject” in the description below) having contour information thatindicates the extracted contour.

The display unit 109 is a device that displays various images, and canbe configured from a liquid crystal display device, or the like, forexample. The data recording unit 110 is a device that records variousdata, and can be configured from a hard disk drive (HDD) or a recordingmedium such as a flash memory, for example.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configurationof the host device 10. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the host device 10includes a central processing unit (CPU) 111, memories such as a ROM112, a RAM 113, and a VRAM 114, a storage unit 115 such as an HDD, adisplay unit 116 such as a display, an operation unit 117 such as akeyboard or a mouse, and an input/output interface I/O 118, and has ahardware configuration using a normal computer.

In the present embodiment, the CPU 111 reads a program stored in the ROM112, or the like in the RAM 113, and executes the program, thereby torealize functions of the data input unit 102, the operation control unit103, and the contour extraction control unit 104 (the processing rangedetermination unit 105, the contour extraction data generation unit 106,and the contour extraction unit 108). However, the configuration is notlimited thereto, and for example, at least a part of the data input unit102, the operation control unit 103, and the contour extraction controlunit 104 may be realized by a dedicated hardware circuit (for example, asemiconductor integrated circuit, or the like). Further, in thisexample, the operation unit 101 is realized by the operation unit 117,and the display unit 109 is realized by the display unit 116. Further,the data recording unit 110 can be realized by the storage unit 115, orthe like.

Note that the program executed by the CPU 111 may be provided by beingrecorded in a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, aflexible disk (FD), a CD-R, or a digital versatile disk (DVD) with afile in an installable format or an executable format.

Further, the program executed by the CPU 111 may be stored on a computerconnected to a network such as the Internet, and may be provided bybeing downloaded through the network. Further, the control programexecuted by the CPU 111 may be distributed or provided through thenetwork such as the Internet.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a state in which the contourobject is generated by a method of the present embodiment. The exampleof FIG. 9 assumes a case in which the entire target image is specifiedas the processing range. Further, assume that a data structure of thecolor plane image data that is the target image data is the datastructure exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 7. As illustrated in FIG. 9,rasterization based on the drawing information of the objects 1 and 2that are the image objects within the processing range and the drawinginformation of the object 3 that is the graphic object is performed, andcombined image data is generated. Next, a contour is extracted from thecombined image data, and a graphic object having contour informationthat indicates the extracted contour is generated as the contour object.

The host device 10 sets a color space and a density value of the contourobject expressed by vector data according to the type of the glosseffect specified by the user. In this way, the host device 10 generatesgloss control plane image data. The host device 10 then integrates thegenerated gloss control plane image data and the color plane image dataexemplarily illustrated in FIG. 7 to generate original copy data.

A configuration of the original copy data in this case is illustrated inFIG. 10. The original copy data includes the drawing information of eachobject included in the same page. Each object is identified by the colorplane image data and the gloss control plane image data. The objects 1to 3 are similar to the content exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 7. Anewly added object 4 represents an object (special color object) inwhich the color space of the contour object is set to a color space ofR-effect that represents a gloss area to which the gloss effect isprovided and the density value of the contour object is set to a densityvalue corresponding to the type of the gloss effect specified by theuser. The drawing information of the object 4 includes information thatindicates a position where a straight line is drawn, a line width, thecolor space of R-effect, and density of pixels. Note that, in the object4, R-effect is defined as a color plane. However, this color planecannot be expressed by the CMYK at the time of printing. Typically, whenprinting is performed using a toner (for example, a red toner) otherthan the CMYK toners, red is defined as the color plane in theelectronic image file. The same applied to the clear toner, in theelectronic image file, the color space of an output of a location wherethe clear toner is used uses special definition, instead of the CMYK.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a procedure to generatethe contour object by the host device 10. First, when having received anoperation that specifies the color plane image data stored in a memory(not illustrated) through the operation unit 101 (step S1), the datainput unit 102 reads the specified color plane image data from thememory (not illustrated), and records the electronic image file thatindicates the read color plane image data in the data recording unit 110(step S2). Further, the data input unit 102 performs control ofconverting the read color plane image data into preview display data ina data format that can be treated in the display unit 109, anddisplaying the converted data in the display unit 109 (step S3).

Next, when having received an operation that presses a button image forselecting the object specifying application through the operation unit101 (step S4), the operation control unit 103 performs control ofdisplaying the UI image related to the object specifying application inthe display unit 109 (step S5). At this time, the object specifyingapplication is started (executed).

Next, when having received an operation that specifies the processingrange through the operation unit 101 (step S6), the operation controlunit 103 notifies the contour extraction control unit 104 of the eventinformation indicating the operation that specifies the processing range(step S7). The contour extraction control unit 104 that has received theevent information requests the processing range determination unit 105to perform the processing of determining the processing range (step S8).The processing range determination unit 105 that has received therequest determines the processing range according to the user operationindicated by the event information, records information that indicatesthe determined processing range in the data recording unit 110 (stepS9), and then performs control of displaying the information in thedisplay unit 109 (step S10). In this example, when having received theevent information indicating the operation that specifies the processingrange, the processing range determination unit 105 determines the entireimage represented by the color plane image data as the processing range.However, the procedure is not limited thereto.

Next, when having received the operation that requests (instructs) thecontour extraction processing through the operation unit 101 (step S11),the operation control unit 103 notifies the contour extraction controlunit 104 of the event information indicating the operation that requeststhe contour extraction processing (step S12). The contour extractioncontrol unit 104 that has received the event information requests thecontour extraction data generation unit 106 to perform the processing ofgenerating a contour object (step S13). The contour extraction datageneration unit 106 that has received the request acquires theinformation indicating the processing range from the data recording unit110 (step S14). Next, the contour extraction data generation unit 106acquires the electronic image file indicating the color plane image dataspecified by the user from the data recording unit 110 (step S15), andidentifies the image object and the graphic object within the processingrange from the acquired electronic image file (step S16). Next, thecontour extraction data generation unit 106 performs rasterization basedon the first drawing information that indicates the drawing informationof the identified image object and the second drawing information thatindicates the drawing information of the identified graphic object togenerate combined image data, into which the image object and thegraphic object are combined (step S17), and records the generatedcombined image data in the data recording unit 110 (step S18). Next, thecontour extraction data generation unit 106 requests the contourextraction unit 108 to perform the contour extraction processing (stepS19).

The contour extraction unit 108 that has received the request of thecontour extraction processing acquires the combined image data from thedata recording unit 110 (step S20), and extracts a contour from theacquired combined image data (step S21). Next, the contour extractionunit 108 generates a graphic object (contour object) that has contourinformation indicating the extracted contour (step S22), records thegenerated contour object in the data recording unit 110 (step S23), andthen performs control of displaying the contour object in the displayunit 109 (step S24).

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the hostdevice 10 of when having received the operation that requests thecontour extraction processing (an operation example of the host device10 of step S15 and subsequent steps illustrated in FIG. 11). First, thecontour extraction data generation unit 106 identifies objects withinthe processing range from the electronic image file (in this example,the color plane image data including the drawing information of eachobject) of the target image acquired from the data recording unit 110(step S101).

Next, the contour extraction data generation unit 106 confirms whetherthere are unprocessed objects in the objects identified in step S101(step S102). When there are unprocessed objects (Yes in step S102), thecontour extraction data generation unit 106 selects one of theunprocessed objects, and confirms whether the selected object is anobject that indicates a non-display attribute (step S103). When havingdetermined that the selected object is not the object that indicates anon-display attribute (No in step S103), the contour extraction datageneration unit 106 confirms whether the selected object is a specialcolor object that indicates the drawing area to which the clear toner isprovided (step S104). In this example, the color plane image data thatis the target image data does not include the special color object, andthus a result of step S104 is denied, and the processing is moved ontonext step S105. In short, while the contour extraction data generationunit 106 identifies the image object and the graphic object within theprocessing range, the contour extraction data generation unit 106 doesnot identify the object that indicates a non-display attribute and thespecial color object. Note that, when the result of step S103 isaffirmed, or when the result of step S104 is affirmed, the processing ofstep S102 and subsequent steps is repeated.

In step S105, the contour extraction data generation unit 106 rasterizesthe selected object to a contour extraction image. Then, the processingof step S102 and subsequent steps is repeated, and the combined imagedata, into which the image object and the graphic object are combined,is generated. When having determined in step S102 that there is nounprocessed object (No in step S102), the contour extraction datageneration unit 106 records the generated combined image data in thedata recording unit 110, and requests the contour extraction unit 108 toperform the contour extraction processing. The contour extraction unit108 that has received the request of the contour extraction processingacquires the combined image data from the data recording unit 110, andextracts a contour from the acquired combined image data. Then, thecontour extraction unit 108 performs control of generating a graphicobject (contour object) having contour information that indicates theextracted contour (step S106), and displaying the graphic object in thedisplay unit 109. When the user has performed an operation thatspecifies a type of the gloss effect that the user wishes to provide,the host device 10 sets the color space of the contour object to thecolor space of R-effect that expresses the gloss area to which the glosseffect is provided, and sets the density value of the contour object tothe density value corresponding to the type of the gloss effectspecified by the user, thereby to change the contour object to thespecial color object (step S107).

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the image object andthe graphic object are included in the processing range that indicates arange of the contour extraction processing, a contour is extracted froman image (combined image data) obtained by rasterization of the mixedimage and graphic. Accordingly, an advantageous effect to extract acontour from an image in which an image object and a graphic object aremixed can be achieved.

Second Embodiment

Next, a second embodiment will be described. A host device of the secondembodiment (hereinafter, may be referred to as “host device 100”)determines a processing range according to an operation of a user, then,when an image object and a graphic object are included in the determinedprocessing range, rasterizes only the image object, and extracts acontour from the image obtained through the rasterization. Hereinafter,description will be specifically given. Note that description of aportion overlapped with the first embodiment is appropriately omitted.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functionalconfiguration of the host device 100 of the second embodiment. The hostdevice 100, as illustrated in FIG. 13, is different from the firstembodiment in including a contour extraction data generation unit 160having a different function from the first embodiment and a vector datacoupling unit 107.

The contour extraction data generation unit 160 has a function toidentify an image object and a graphic object in the processing range,similarly to the first embodiment. Further, the contour extraction datageneration unit 160 has a function to perform rasterization based onfirst drawing information indicating drawing information of theidentified image object to generate contour extraction image data.

When a contour object expressed by vector data that can identify acontour extracted by a contour extraction unit 108 and the graphicobject (second object) in the processing range are overlapped, thevector data coupling unit 107 has a function to combine the contourobject and the graphic object.

FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a state in which thecontour object is generated by a method of the present embodiment. Theexample of FIG. 14 assumes a case in which the entire target image isspecified as the processing range, similarly to FIG. 9. Further, assumethat a data structure of color plane image data that is target imagedata is the data structure exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 7. Asillustrated in FIG. 14, rasterization based on drawing information ofobjects 1 and 2 that are image objects in the processing range isperformed, and contour extraction image data is generated. Next, acontour is extracted from the contour extraction image data, and agraphic object having contour information that indicates the extractedcontour is generated as a contour object. Further, the graphic object inthe processing range is copied. When the contour object and the graphicobject in the processing range are overlapped, the contour object andthe graphic object in the processing range are combined. In thedescription below, a graphic object obtained by the combining may bereferred to as “combined contour object”. Then, the host device 100 setsa color space and a density value of the combined contour objectexpressed by the vector data according to a type of a gloss effectspecified by the user, thereby to change the combined contour object toa special color object.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a procedure to generatethe combined contour object by the host device 100. Content of steps S31to S44 illustrated in FIG. 15 is similar to that of steps S1 to S14illustrated in FIG. 11, and thus detailed description is omitted here.In step S44 illustrated in FIG. 15, after acquiring informationindicating the processing range from a data recording unit 110, thecontour extraction data generation unit 160 acquires an electronic imagefile of color plane image data specified by the user from the datarecording unit 110 (step S45), and identifies an image object and agraphic object in the processing range from the acquired electronicimage file (step S46).

Next, the contour extraction data generation unit 160 copies(duplicates) the graphic in the processing range (step S47), and recordsthe copied graphic object in the data recording unit 110 (step S48).Further, as for the image object in the processing range, the contourextraction data generation unit 160 performs rasterization based ondrawing information of the image object to generate contour extractionimage data (step S49), and records the generated contour extractionimage data in the data recording unit 110 (step S50). When theprocessing of steps of S47 to S50 has been completed with respect to allof the image objects and the graphic objects in the processing range(excluding an object that indicates a non-display attribute and aspecial color object, similarly to the first embodiment), the contourextraction data generation unit 160 requests the contour extraction unit108 to perform contour extraction processing (step S51).

The contour extraction unit 108 that has received the request of thecontour extraction processing acquires the contour extraction image datafrom the data recording unit 110 (step S52), and extracts a contour fromthe acquired contour extraction image data (step S53). Next, the contourextraction unit 108 generates a graphic object (contour object) havingcontour information that indicates the extracted contour (step S54), andrecords the generated contour object in the data recording unit 110(step S55). The contour extraction data generation unit 160 returns thecopied graphic object and a graphic object group of the contour objects(may be referred to as “contour object list” in the description below)to a contour extraction control unit 104, as a result to the request ofstep S43 (the execution request of processing to generate a contourobject). Next, the contour extraction control unit 104 specifies thecontour object list received as a result to the request of step S43, asarguments, and requests the vector data coupling unit 107 to performcombining processing of graphic objects (step S56).

When the graphic objects specified as the arguments are overlapped, thevector data coupling unit 107 that has received the request combinesthese graphic objects (step S57). The vector data coupling unit 107records the combined graphic object (combined contour object) in thedata recording unit 110 (step S58), and then performs control ofdisplaying the combined graphic object in a display unit 109 (step S59).

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the hostdevice 100 of steps S45 to S55 illustrated in FIG. 15. Processingcontent of steps S201 to S204 illustrated in FIG. 16 is similar to theprocessing content of steps S101 to S104 illustrated in FIG. 12, andthus detailed description is omitted here. When an object selected fromunprocessed objects is not an object that indicates a non-displayattribute (No in step S203), and is not a special color object (No instep S204), the contour extraction data generation unit 160 confirmswhether the selected object is a graphic object (step S205). When havingdetermined that the selected object is not a graphic object but is animage object (No in step S205), the contour extraction data generationunit 160 performs rasterization based on the drawing information of theimage object to generate contour extraction image data (step S206), andrecords the generated contour extraction image data in the datarecording unit 110. Meanwhile, when having determined that the selectedobject is a graphic object (Yes in step S205), the contour extractiondata generation unit 160 copies the graphic object (step S207), andrecords the copied graphic object in the data recording unit 110. Thecontour extraction data generation unit 160 repeats the processing ofstep S202 and subsequent steps.

In step S202, when having determined that there is no unprocessed object(No in step S202), the contour extraction data generation unit 160requests the contour extraction unit 108 to perform the contourextraction processing. The contour extraction unit 108 that has receivedthe request of the contour extraction processing acquires the contourextraction image data from the data recording unit 110, and extracts acontour from the acquired contour extraction image data. The contourextraction unit 108 then generates a graphic object (contour object)having contour information that indicates the extracted contour (stepS208), and records the generated contour object in the data recordingunit 110.

The contour extraction control unit 104 that has received the graphicobject copied in step S207 and the graphic object group (“contour objectlist”) of the contour objects generated in step S208 as a processingresult requests the vector data coupling unit 107 to perform combiningprocessing of the graphic objects.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the hostdevice 100 of step S56 and subsequent steps illustrated in FIG. 15. Whenhaving received the request of the combining processing from the contourextraction control unit 104, the vector data coupling unit 107 confirmswhether having processed all of the objects (graphic objects) in thecontour object list (step S301). When there are unprocessed objects (Noin step S301), the vector data coupling unit 107 selects one of theunprocessed objects, and confirms whether the selected object is thefirst object (step S302). When the selected object is the first object(Yes in step S302), the vector data coupling unit 107 adds the selectedobject to the processed object list (step S304), and repeats theprocessing of step S301 and subsequent steps.

Meanwhile, in step S302, when the selected object is not the firstobject (No in step S302), the vector data coupling unit 107 confirmswhether the selected object is overlapped with any of the processedobjects (step S303). When the selected object is overlapped with any ofthe processed objects (Yes in step S303), the vector data coupling unit107 combines the selected object and the object overlapped with theselected object, of the processed objects, and adds the combined object(combined contour object) to the processed object list (step S305).Then, the vector data coupling unit 107 repeats the processing of stepS301 and subsequent steps. Further, in step S303, when the selectedobject is not overlapped with any of the processed objects (No in stepS303), the vector data coupling unit 107 adds the selected object to theprocessed object list (step S304), and repeats the processing of stepS301 and subsequent steps.

In step S301, when there is no unprocessed object (Yes in step S301),the vector data coupling unit 107 records the processed objects(including the combined contour object) in the data recording unit 110,and then performs control of displaying the processed objects in thedisplay unit 109. Then, when the user performs an operation to specify atype of a gloss effect that the user wishes to provide to areascorresponding to the processed objects, the host device 100 sets colorspaces and density values of the processed objects according to the typeof the gloss effect specified by the user, thereby to change theprocessed objects to special color objects (step S306).

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the image object andthe graphic object are included in the processing range that indicates arange of the contour extraction processing, the graphic object includingcontour information is not rasterized, and only the image object israsterized, and the contour is extracted from the contour extractionimage data obtained through the rasterization. Further, when the contourobject having contour information that indicates the contour extractedfrom the contour extraction image data and the graphic object in theprocessing range are overlapped, the combined contour object, into whichthe contour object and the graphic object are combined, is generated.Accordingly, an advantageous effect to extract a contour from an imagein which an image object and a graphic object are mixed can be achieved.

Note that, in the above embodiments, the configuration to generate theoriginal copy data in which the information of the special color plane(special color plane image data) is added to the color plane image datahas been described as an example. However, a configuration to which thepresent invention can be applied is not limited to the configuration,and for example, may be a configuration in which the special color planeimage data is not generated.

Hereinafter, modifications will be described.

(1) First Modification

A method of determining the above-described processing range isarbitrary. For example, a configuration may be employed, in which, whena user operates a mouse while confirming an image represented by colorplane image data (target image data) displayed in a display unit 109,and performs work of surrounding a predetermined area of the image, thepredetermined area may be determined as the processing range. Further,the function provided by the above-described object specifyingapplication may include a function to improve efficiency of the work.

For example, a host device 10 (100) can further include a receiving unitthat receives specified position information that indicates a positionspecified by the user with respect to an image (target image)represented by target image data, and when a distance between a startpoint position that indicates a start point of a position indicated bythe specified position information sequentially received in thereceiving unit, and a position indicated by the latest specifiedposition information is a threshold or less, a processing rangedetermination unit 105 can determine a closed area obtained based on ahistory of the received specified position information, as theprocessing range. For example, the user operates a mouse whileconfirming the target image displayed in the display unit 109, moves amouse cursor that indicates a current position of a mouse input, adjuststhe mouse cursor to an arbitrary position on the target image, andperforms a click operation, thereby to specify the arbitrary position.Event information in this case may be information including operationinformation that identifies the click operation of the mouse and thespecified position information that indicates the position specified bythe user with respect to the target image. In this case, the clickoperation of the mouse corresponds to an operation to specify theprocessing range.

Further, for example, when the distance between the start point positionand the position indicated by the latest specified position informationis a threshold or less, the processing range determination unit 105replaces the position indicated by the latest specified positioninformation with the start point position, and then can determine(decide) a closed area obtained by linking the start point position topositions indicated by the specified position information received untilreceiving the latest specified position information one by one, as theprocessing range. Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 18, even when thestart point position and the position indicated by the latest specifiedposition information are not exactly matched, the position indicated bythe latest specified position information is replaced with the startpoint position (in a different point of view, the start point positionis regarded as an end point position), and the closed area obtained bylinking sequentially the positions indicated by the specified positioninformation received so far, using the start point position as the startpoint and the end point, is determined as the processing range.

(2) Second Modification

In the above embodiments, the case in which the target image data thatis a target of the contour extraction processing is the color planeimage data has been described as an example. However, the target imagedata is not limited to above example. For example, the target image datamay be original copy data, into which color plane image data and glosscontrol plane image data (special color plane image data) are combined.

Note that the above modifications can be arbitrarily combined. Further,the embodiments and the modifications can be arbitrarily combined.

According to the present invention, a contour can be extracted from animage in which an object expressed by pixel data and an object expressedby vector data are mixed.

Although the invention has been described with respect to specificembodiments for a complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims arenot to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying allmodifications and alternative constructions that may occur to oneskilled in the art that fairly fall within the basic teaching herein setforth.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing device comprising: anidentifying unit configured to identify a first object expressed bypixel data and a second object expressed by vector data from targetimage data including drawing information for each object; a generationunit configured to perform rasterization based on first drawinginformation indicating the drawing information of the first object andsecond drawing information indicating the drawing information of thesecond object to generate combined image data, into which the firstobject and the second object are combined; and a contour extraction unitconfigured to extract a contour from the combined image data.
 2. Theinformation processing device according to claim 1, wherein theidentifying unit does not identify an object indicating a non-displayattribute.
 3. The information processing device according to claim 1,wherein the identifying unit does not identify a special color objectindicating a drawing area to which a special color is provided.
 4. Theinformation processing device according to claim 1, further comprising:a processing range determination unit configured to determine aprocessing range indicating a range to extract a contour, of an imagerepresented by the target image data, wherein the identifying unitidentifies the first object and the second object in the processingrange.
 5. The information processing device according to claim 4,further comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive specifiedposition information indicating a position specified by a user withrespect to the image represented by the target image data, wherein theprocessing range determination unit determines, when a distance betweena start point position indicating a start point of a position indicatedby the specified position information sequentially received in thereceiving unit and a position indicated by latest specified positioninformation is a threshold or less, a closed area obtainable based on ahistory of the received specified position information, as theprocessing range.
 6. An image processing device comprising: anidentifying unit configured to identify a first object expressed bypixel data and a second object expressed by vector data from targetimage data including drawing information for each object; a generationunit configured to perform rasterization based on first drawinginformation indicating the drawing information of the first object togenerate contour extraction image data; and a contour extraction unitconfigured to extract a contour from the contour extraction image data.7. The information processing device according to claim 6, furthercomprising: a combining unit configured to combine, when a contourobject expressed by vector data capable of identifying the contourextracted by the contour extraction unit and the second object areoverlapped, the contour object and the second object.
 8. The informationprocessing device according to claim 6, wherein the identifying unitdoes not identify an object indicating a non-display attribute.
 9. Theinformation processing device according to claim 6, wherein theidentifying unit does not identify a special color object indicating adrawing area to which a special color is provided.
 10. The informationprocessing device according to claim 6, further comprising: a processingrange determination unit configured to determine a processing rangeindicating a range to extract a contour, of an image represented by thetarget image data, wherein the identifying unit identifies the firstobject and the second object in the processing range.
 11. Theinformation processing device according to claim 10, further comprising:a receiving unit configured to receive specified position informationindicating a position specified by a user with respect to the imagerepresented by the target image data, wherein the processing rangedetermination unit determines, when a distance between a start pointposition indicating a start point of a position indicated by thespecified position information sequentially received in the receivingunit and a position indicated by latest specified position informationis a threshold or less, a closed area obtainable based on a history ofthe received specified position information, as the processing range.12. A method of processing information, the method comprising the stepsof: identifying a first object expressed by pixel data and a secondobject expressed by vector data from target image data including drawinginformation for each object; performing rasterization based on firstdrawing information indicating the drawing information of the firstobject and second drawing information indicating the drawing informationof the second object to generate combined image data, into which thefirst object and the second object are combined; and extracting acontour from the combined image data.